Friday the 13th Magic: Celebrating Strangeness Fully, Honestly, and Fiercely!

Friday the 13th has arrived, and with it, a day brimming with synchronicities. On this holiday of all holidays, your magic is teeming with all sorts of possibilities—Friday the 13th is an open invitation to witches near and far to revel in strangeness, in queerness, and to do so without apology. What would it look like to embrace yourself, and your magical journey, without fear or reproach? 

Despite pop culture’s many attempts to cast Friday the 13th as a harbinger of bad luck, the witch understands the unique power of today’s holiday, and knows better than to dismiss this power simply because history has misunderstood it. After all, the misunderstanding is something the witch knows all too well, wouldn't you say, babe? It’s this affinity for the strange and the misunderstood that makes Friday the 13th such a potent holiday for witches to envision their fullest, most embodied selves.

Now is an especially auspicious time to seek out whatever fears, doubts, and feelings of lack have taken root in your craft and turn them on their heads. Remember, your magic is endlessly abundant, and naming these perceived “flaws” is a chance to reclaim and make space for authenticity. 

Friday the 13th is ripe with opportunities to stand fully, honestly, and fiercely in your magic.

Consider the numerological significance of today’s holiday—the number thirteen has been tied to witches for hundreds of years. In the tarot, the thirteenth major arcana card is Death, the card of unforgiving transformation, purification, and joyous rebirth. A full year contains thirteen lunar cycles, and in traditional witchcraft, a coven typically includes thirteen members. In all aspects, the number thirteen is brimming with extremely potent energy. This energy is readily available to all, no matter how far along you may be in your practice, and on Friday the 13th, I invite you to recognize and celebrate this creative energy as it manifests in you. 

Bath Ritual: Stepping Into Strangeness

With this ritual, I invite you to step bravely into your fullest self, and to acknowledge and accept that your “strangeness” is deserving of ample celebration. Unbridle your magic, discard your emotional mask, and allow your vision of yourself to loosen and expand into heady bloom. Dedicate this ritual to yourself in your wildest, most potent, and most creative form. 

You will Need:

1 dark candle

1 piece of paper

1 fireproof bowl

A full bath

Before you begin, take a moment to hold your candle while visualizing yourself. The candle can be any size or shape, but it should represent you, or the many versions of you. It’s vital that you feel as though the candle reflects your essence in the fullest sense, unrestricted by self-doubt or internalized judgement. When you’re ready to begin your bath, light your candle. As you draw your bath, tear your piece of paper into thirteen pieces. 

On each scrap of paper, write down a facet of yourself that you haven’t felt ready to accept or acknowledge. Alternatively, write down something about yourself that you’ve been taught to hide, to feel shame about, or to pretend isn’t there. Arrange the scraps of paper around the rim of your bath, or pile them together in front of your candle. Sit with these reflections for a while, and at the end of your bath, burn them. As the fire consumes the paper, recall the vision of yourself as a being brimming with creative power, and know that these perceived “flaws” are a part of that power too. 

Once the ash has cooled off give it back to the earth by burying it in your garden or a few beloved house plants to feed the soil and fertilize it with your dreams of MAGIC for your life!